Description

A History of World Societies Volume 1 9th Edition Test Bank

Answer each of the following questions with an essay. Be sure to include specific examples that support your thesis and conclusions.

1.

What are some of the problems in using evidence from contemporary gatherer societies to study early humans?

2.

How did early Homo erectus spread out of East Africa into other parts of the world? Where did they go, and how early did they reach those places?

3.

What were the key features of Paleolithic food attainment and Paleolithic diets?

4.

What are some of the theories about gender relationships in Paleolithic societies? What changed in those relationships in the Neolithic period? What kinds of evidence are used in supporting or arguing against these theories?

5.

What is the relationship between pastoralism, disease, and humans?

6.

How did material goods create, define, and perpetuate social hierarchies in Neolithic societies?

Answer Key

1.

Answer would ideally include:

· Because the earliest humans did not leave behind written evidence, scientists have studied more recent societies that lived by similar gathering means. However, most evidence about recent gatherer societies was written by external sources and thus includes their biases and expectations, such as the inferiority of foraging as a lifestyle. Furthermore, few modern foragers or gatherers are truly isolated from the influence of other agricultural or industrial cultures. Also, this approach assumes that gatherer societies are somehow static and remain unchanged over many centuries, which ignores the evidence of how adaptable such societies really are.

2.

Answer would ideally include:

· Homo erectus migrated out of East Africa into central Africa, and then into northern Africa. This migration took place 2 million years ago. As early as 1.8 million years ago, Homo erectus had spread to Asia, reaching China and Java by 1.5 million years ago. These migrations took place over land, along coastline routes. Because sea levels were lower then, individuals could cross from the mainland of China to Java on foot. Homo erectus also moved northward from Africa, into Spain by 800,000 years ago and into Germany 500,000 years ago. In each of these places, they adapted hunting and gathering techniques to the local environment.

3.

Answer would ideally include:

· The Paleolithic diet consisted of a combination of plants and animal protein. Paleolithic peoples foraged for their food, engaging in what we would consider a combination of hunting, scavenging, and gathering. Most of what they ate were plants. Animal protein often came from scavenged foods like insects and shellfish rather than being hunted directly. It is unknown as to whether labor was divided between genders, but in today’s foraging societies, there is some division, with men engaging in hunting large animals and women responsible for gathering plants and small animals. It took between ten and twenty hours per week to gather food, but this number varied depending on environmental factors and group decisions. Because Paleolithic peoples had to forage for their diet, they expended energy and, in general, avoided diseases common in sedentary societies. Life spans were kept in check by accidents, injuries, and infections.

4.

Answer would ideally include:

· Studies of more recent foraging societies suggest that women were valued for their labor, which was recognized as equal to the work of men. Both men and women foraged for food, and both participated in hunting. Other scholars theorize that even in Paleolithic society one person may have emerged as a leader, perhaps based on personal skill, and that this person was almost always a man. It is more certain that by the Neolithic period, after the invention of plow agriculture, society became more hierarchical and men took on more of a public, elite status. Women were limited to the home or enclosed spaces, and land inheritance favored men over women. Evidence for gender roles in the Neolithic period comes from later written traditions.

5.

Answer would ideally include:

· Pastoralism is the herding and raising of livestock. It requires humans to live in close contact with their herd animals, thus exposing humans to various animal-borne diseases, such as smallpox. Initially, exposure to diseases may have caused higher mortality rates in pastoralist societies, but over time, humans would have developed some resistance to them. Foragers were not exposed to these diseases and thus did not develop any resistance to them. When a pastoralist society encountered a forager society, this might have led the former to expose the latter to deadly pathogens.

6.

Answer would ideally include:

· The possession of material goods—such as livestock, dwelling structures, plows, carts, and pots—indicated that some individuals had control over more labor. Labor was used to acquire material goods. The more material goods one had, the more labor one controlled. This indicated status; to control labor was to have a higher status than others. Having material goods gave one the ability to acquire yet more material goods and to continue to acquire status. Material goods, along with land, could also constitute an inheritance, and thus perpetuate status into the next generation.

Choose the letter of the best answer.

1.

How is the term species generally defined?

A)

A group of organisms that can communicate with one another

B)

A group of organisms that will share food with one another

C)

A group of organisms that can mate and produce fertile offspring of both sexes

D)

A group of organisms that originate from a different ancestor

2.

During which of the following periods did the ancestor common to both chimpanzees and humans probably live?

A)

3 to 5 million years ago

B)

5 to 7 million years ago

C)

10 to 12 million years ago

D)

12 to 14 million years ago

3.

Scientists used which of the following to label the first periods of human history?

A)

The material used for tools

B)

The height of the human form

C)

Language ability and skill level

D)

The location of human settlements

4.

Although the date varies by location, when did the shift to agriculture first occur?

A)

3000 B.C.E.

B)

15,000 B.C.E.

C)

9000 B.C.E.

D)

1000 B.C.E.

5.

What term is used for the first fully bipedal hominid known to paleontologists?

A)

Ardipithecus

B)

Homo habilis

C)

Australopithecus

D)

Homo sapiens

6.

Where have the majority of Australopithecus skeletal remains been found?

A)

The Sahara Desert

B)

The Great Rift Valley

C)

Jericho Valley

D)

The Island of Java

7.

How did Homo erectus differ from modern humans?

A)

Homo erectus had a slightly smaller brain size than modern humans.

B)

Homo erectus had no capacity for making and using tools.

C)

Homo erectus lived in larger groups than modern humans.

D)

Homo erectus shared food preparations and gathering.

8.

How Homo erectus migrate from China about 1.5 million years ago to settle on Java?

A)

By sailing woven grass boats

B)

By walking over land

C)

By floating on planks

D)

By paddling canoes

9.

Where did Homo sapiens first evolve?

A)

The Black Sea region

B)

The Nile Valley

C)

China

D)

East Africa

10.

Why were better social skills especially important for early human females?

A)

They needed help with food gathering.

B)

They needed help with home building.

C)

They needed help attracting a mate.

D)

They needed help with child rearing.

11.

Which of the following skills did Homo sapiens acquire around 25,000 years ago?

A)

The capacity to weave cloth

B)

The capacity to make tools from stone

C)

The capacity to domesticate sheep

D)

The capacity to use fire for warmth

12.

Which of the following is evidence that Neanderthals understood death to have a symbolic meaning?

A)

They drew pictures of the dead on walls.

B)

They buried the dead with symbolic objects.

C)

They wrote stories about the meaning of death.

D)

They built large funerary monuments.

13.

The Neanderthals of Europe were a branch of what hominid group?

A)

Homo sapiens

B)

Homo habilis

C)

Australopithecus

D)

Homo erectus

14.

Between 1 and 4 percent of the DNA in modern humans is shared with what early hominid?

A)

Homo sapiens

B)

Cro-Magnon

C)

Neanderthals

D)

Australopithecus

15.

Which of the following allowed Homo sapiens to migrate to Australia and New Guinea?

A)

Simple rafts

B)

Land bridges

C)

Large boats

D)

Swimming

16.

What was one of the results of endogamy?

A)

An increase in fertility

B)

A lack of diversity of languages

C)

The inability of Homo sapiens to mate with one another

D)

Differences in physical features and spoken language

17.

The term forager is now used by historians instead of what traditional term?

A)

Hunter-gatherer

B)

Stone-age man

C)

Caveman

D)

First people

18.

Which of the following foods dominated the diet of Paleolithic foragers?

A)

Trapped animals

B)

Fish

C)

Hunted animals

D)

Plants

19.

Paleolithic humans may have encouraged the growth of new plants by doing what?

A)

Planting seeds

B)

Hunting large game

C)

Harvesting crops

D)

Setting fires

20.

How many hours a week did early foragers generally spend gathering food?

A)

One to three hours

B)

Forty hours

C)

Fifty hours or more

D)

Ten to twenty hours

21.

Which of the following is true of Paleolithic mating patterns?

A)

Most Paleolithic humans sought mates from outside their kinship groups.

B)

Mates were usually selected from within the same kinship group.

C)

Most mates were purchased from a distant tribal group.

D)

Mates were generally people taken captive in conflict.

22.

The burial sites of Paleolithic humans reveal that they believed that all things and natural occurrences had which of the following?

A)

Meaning

B)

Economic value

C)

Danger

D)

Spirits

23.

What did Paleolithic peoples believe about dead members of their kinship groups?

A)

That the dead were gone forever

B)

That deceased family members were still with them

C)

That the dead became new gods

D)

That the dead would return one day

24.

Who in Paleolithic society was believed to regularly receive messages from the spirit world?

A)

The chief

B)

The shaman

C)

The king

D)

The warriors

25.

What was one of the shaman’s primary duties?

A)

Healing the sick

B)

Leading the war band

C)

Harvesting crops

D)

Leading building projects in urban areas

26.

What discovery marks the transition from Paleolithic to Neolithic?

A)

Stone tools

B)

Religion

C)

Burial

D)

Agriculture

27.

What major climate change occurred about 15,000 years ago?

A)

Temperatures warmed and glaciers melted.

B)

Monsoon patterns began.

C)

Temperatures became slightly colder.

D)

El Niño wind patterns first developed.

28.

What term describes a crop that has been modified by selective breeding?

A)

Trained

B)

Marketed

C)

Domesticated

D)

Husbanded

29.

Horticulture refers to the growing of plants using what tool?

A)

Clubs

B)

Plows

C)

Digging sticks

D)

Sickles

30.

Beginning about 9000 B.C.E., people in the Fertile Crescent began to domesticate what crop?

A)

Yams

B)

Wheat

C)

Squash

D)

Rice

31.

How did women’s work change as a result of settled agriculture?

A)

Women were responsible for working the fields while their husbands hunted.

B)

Women became merchants because they now had time to produce things to sell.

C)

Women continued to be quite mobile and continued to add to family diet through foraging.

D)

Women likely began to spend more time tending to household needs.

32.

How did the amount of labor required for horticulture compare to that for foraging?

A)

Horticulture required less time and labor than foraging.

B)

Horticulture required more time and labor than foraging.

C)

Horticulture required the same amount of time and labor as foraging.

D)

Horticulture required more time and labor than foraging, but only during harvesting season.

33.

By 4000 B.C.E., how far north of the Fertile Crescent had horticulture spread?

A)

To Britain

B)

To Scandinavia

C)

To Ethiopia

D)

To Russia

34.

Potatoes and quinoa were domesticated by 3000 B.C.E. in what region?

A)

Indus Valley

B)

Western United States

C)

Andes Mountains

D)

Fertile Crescent

35.

What species of animal did humans domesticate around 15,000 years ago?

A)

Sheep

B)

Dogs

C)

Cattle

D)

Horses

36.

Which of the following was a consequence of humans living in close proximity with animals?

A)

Humans had an easier time domesticating animals.

B)

Humans spread disease to animals, leading to the extinction of some species.

C)

Humans were exposed to more pathogens.

D)

Humans began to consider animals as property.

37.

Animal domestication led to humans becoming able to digest which of the following?

A)

Milk

B)

Meat

C)

Grain

D)

Minerals

38.

The natural herding instinct of what animal paved the way for pastoralism?

A)

Pigs

B)

Yaks

C)

Humans

D)

Sheep

39.

Beginning in the sixth millennium B.C.E., people attached wooden sticks to frames and pack animals to use as a simple version of what developing technology?

A)

Weapons

B)

Fences to mark boundaries of territory

C)

Early threshers

D)

Plows

40.

How did the moldboard plow aid early farmers?

A)

It turned over soil, breaking it up for easier planting.

B)

It planted seeds as it moved through the soil.

C)

It helped to harvest crops.

D)

It made straighter furrows.

41.

In most Neolithic communities, which group of people were the first to work out written codes of law?

A)

Craftsmen

B)

Priests

C)

Warriors

D)

Farmers

42.

Every society that has left a written record was organized around what important hierarchical system?

A)

Patriarchy

B)

Theocracy

C)

Pastoralism

D)

Matriarchy

43.

What is depicted in the earliest Egyptian hieroglyph for weaving?

A)

Children weaving

B)

A loom and shuttle

C)

Sheep being sheared

D)

A woman with a shuttle

44.

Which of the following was an important feature of the houses of Çatal Hüyük?

A)

They were constructed without roofs.

B)

Elites lived in round houses with two doors.

C)

They were made of mud brick.

D)

They were spaced far apart to combat disease.

45.

For what did Neolithic peoples use obsidian?

A)

It was melted to construct plow blades.

B)

It was used to make knives and blades.

C)

It was easily carved into storage jars.

D)

It was woven into carpets to make them stronger.

46.

What alloy is created by mixing copper with another metal such as arsenic?

A)

Iron

B)

Steel

C)

Tin

D)

Bronze

47.

Why did Neolithic peoples build circular structures?

A)

It helped them to predict where best to herd their animals.

B)

Circular structures were believed to predict the movements of the stars.

C)

Circular structures were believed to possess magical powers to help people know where to migrate next.

D)

Priests taught their populations that building large circular structures would ensure a large harvest for years to come.

48.

What characteristics did the gods of polytheistic Neolithic societies develop?

A)

They took on social hierarchies and had specific labor responsibilities.

B)

They were originally believed to resemble people but later were depicted as animals.

C)

They were always depicted as strong animals.

D)

They were seen as heavenly creatures with wings.

49.

As Neolithic religious structures became more hierarchical, what was the purpose of the most important religious practice?

A)

Ensuring military success

B)

Granting a special skill

C)

Foretelling the future

D)

Ensuring fertility

50.

By what time was the Bronze Age well under way?

A)

10,000 B.C.E.

B)

7500 B.C.E.

C)

5000 B.C.E.

D)

2500 B.C.E.

Answer Key

1.

C

2.

B

3.

A

4.

C

5.

C

6.

B

7.

A

8.

B

9.

D

10.

D

11.

A

12.

B

13.

D

14.

C

15.

A

16.

D

17.

A

18.

D

19.

D

20.

D

21.

A

22.

D

23.

B

24.

B

25.

A

26.

D

27.

A

28.

C

29.

C

30.

B

31.

D

32.

B

33.

A

34.

C

35.

B

36.

C

37.

A

38.

D

39.

D

40.

A

41.

B

42.

A

43.

D

44.

C

45.

B

46.

D

47.

B

48.

A

49.

D

50.

D

Use the following to answer questions 1-15:

Select the word or phrase from the Terms section that best matches the definition or example provided in the Definitions section.

Terms

pastoralism

Neanderthals

division of labor

animism

social hierarchies

patriarchy

Paleolithic era

Agricultural Revolution

foraging

shamans

Neolithic era

hominids

horticulture

megafaunal extinction

domesticated

1.

Period during which humans used tools of stone, bone, and wood and obtained food by gathering and hunting. Roughly 250,000–9,000 B.C.E. _________________

2.

Dramatic transformation in human history resulting from the change from foraging to raising crops and animals. _________________

3.

Period beginning in 9000 B.C.E. during which humans obtained food by raising crops and animals and continued to use tools primarily of stone, bone, and wood. _________________

4.

Members of the family Hominidae that contains humans, chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans. _________________

5.

Die-off of large animals in many parts of the world about 15,000–10,000 B.C.E., caused by climate change and perhaps human hunting. _________________

6.

Divisions between rich and poor, elites and common people, that have been a central feature of human society since the Neolithic era. _________________

7.

A style of life in which people gain food by gathering plant products, trapping or catching small animals and birds, and hunting larger prey. _________________

8.

Idea that people, animals, plants, natural occurrences, and other parts of the physical world have spirits. _________________

9.

Differentiation of tasks by gender, age, training, status, or other social distinction. _________________

10.

Social system in which men have more power and access to resources than women and some men are dominant over other men. _________________

11.

Group of Homo erectus with brains as large as those of modern humans that flourished in Europe and western Asia between 150,000 and 30,000 years ago. _________________

12.

Crop raising done with hand tools and human power. _________________

13.

An economic system based on herding flocks of goats, sheep, cattle, or other animals. _________________

14.

Plants and animals modified by selective breeding so as to serve human needs; these animals will behave in specific ways and breed in captivity. _________________

15.

Spiritually adept men and women who communicated with the unseen world. _________________

Answer Key

1.

g. Paleolithic era

2.

h. Agricultural Revolution

3.

i. Neolithic era

4.

j. hominids

5.

l. megafaunal extinction

6.

e. social hierarchies

7.

g. foraging

8.

d. animism

9.

c. division of labor

10.

f. patriarchy

11.

b. Neanderthals

12.

k. horticulture

13.

a. pastoralism

14.

m. domesticated

15.

h. shamans

Reviews

There are no reviews yet.

Be the first to review “A History of World Societies Volume 1 9th Edition Test Bank” Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *